Three Combined
by outerelf
Summary: Red Alert has a secret even he doesn't realize he's keeping. What? Well, Ratchet always was determined to help...


_**I'm going to die soon**__._ Red Alert shivered as the thought intruded upon his consciousness.

_-No, I'm not-_

_**Yes, we are**__._

_-No, we aren't.-_

_Now, now you two. No fighting. We shouldn't die any time soon-_

_**SHUT UP NICE! **_Raged the other voice in his CPU

Somewhere in his CPU Red Alert could hear Nice sniffling, and Anger stomping his foot in impatience. -_Nice, Anger, why don't you two go ahead and think up some more conspiracy theories.-_ Red Alert thought.

There was a moment as Anger considered, and Nice jumped up and down in eagerness. _Oooh, I like conspiracy theories._

Anger relunctantly agreed, and Red Alert once again began working on his datapad. There was a knock on the door, and all three stopped mid-chatter. "Come in."

The door slid open, and the commander of the base came strolling in. "Red Alert?"

Red Alert tensed, something was wrong here. Very, very wrong. The commander wouldn't come into the security room just for a simple drop by to say hello. "There have been several inquiries into your background, and… a few doctors wish to take a look at you."

Red Alert stfiened, and the two voices in his mind gibbered in panic. The last time a doctor had inspected him he had been given some sort of medicine that was supposed to shut up the two voices in the back of his head. It hadn't worked. In fact, he had spent the subsequent hours on the ground, talking to voices that didn't exist, even in his CPU.

"Umm, yes sir." Red Alert said, standing up.

He didn't have a choice any way he looked at it. As much as Anger might rage and Nice shout, it wasn't as if he could abandon the base. Not without some serious consequences at least.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Red Alert stopped dead at the sight of so many doctors. **_You cannot be serious. That's nearly three doctors too many. Just one should be fine!_** Anger pointed out, and Nice sent a wave of agreement.

Red Alert ignored them as he stepped up to the berth, and the doctors quickly put him under. "Alright, so, the records of his sparking years were a little vague. Let's check his spark first."

The doctors worked silently, and then there was a sudden shriek from one of the doctors, the one who was pulling off the spark case. "How! This shouldn't be possible!"

The doctors gathered around the spark casing, and stared down at the three sparks pulsing inside. All three were crowded, and slightly intertwined with each other. "I thought if anyone tried to do this then that mech would die after going crazy."

"Well, he isn't dead. Maybe this one managed to escape from the experiments?"

"Wait!" The head doctor said thoughtfully. "It's said he's had a glitch ever since he was sparked, correct?"

The three other doctors looked at him, their CPUs instantly recognizing what the doctor was saying. "So, he's been like this since he was a sparkling?"

"Yes. Since the experiment could only be carried out on full grown mechs who agreed to such a thing, they all died eventually. However, when he was a sparkling-"

"But, that doesn't make any sense!" One mech proclaimed. "It still shouldn't work."

Confused, the doctors took a step back from Red Alert, each CPU struggling for an explenation. "What if he was supposed to be a twin?" One doctor offered slowly, hoping that the other three doctors didn't laugh him out of the room.

One sneered, "No, that can't be!"

"And why not?" The head countered. "Though, instead of twins, imagine triplets. And, a very _poor_ family that couldn't afford a body."

"That may be, but the hospital should've offered to give them the bodies, and the family would pay a loan of some sort-" The third pointed out, and the head shook his head.

"Should've. But, a lot of hospitals can't afford bodies either. So thus-"

"The doctors did the only thing they could, and that was to put all three sparks in the body."

"And, the creators probably didn't even know." Came back the thoughtful reply.

Suddenly, another mech spoke up. "But- what if the spark split while still inside of the casing?"

Dead silence fell at that. "We'd have to somehow get ahold of the sparkling body to check." Came the reply at last. "But, how come none of the doctors noticed while transferring the spark later?"

The head doctor shrugged. "I'm not sure why. But, that isn't the most important thing right now. For now, no one can know about this."

"What? Why not?" One demanded, glaring.

"Do you know anyone who'd be able to untangle these sparks? The only one I can think of is a medic called Ratchet, and he has better things to do. Besides which, the separating might kill all three out of pure shock."

Silence fell, as the three considered each other. "Can we at least put a hidden file in his documents? To be opened up after the war? So that way when someone can devote all of their time to him they can separate the three sparks?"

"Yes. That would probably be the best. And until then, we'll build an extra shield around the spark chamber to keep anyone from noticing."

The three doctors nodded and got to work.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Ratchet scowled in frustration. Once again Red Alert had come to him, glitching badly. Ratchet had scanned him, but once again- _Why aren't my sensors picking up any signs of a glitch? It obvious he has one, but every time I try to pin it down, it vanishes!_

Red Alert sat on the edge of the berth, looking curiously at Ratchet as he slammed various datapads on the table. "Red Alert, I'm going to go over your medical file, got it? I want you to tell me what you thought of such things. First off, you've been glitching since you were sparked."

Red Alert nodded. "When you first described it, you said it was emotions coming towards you, correct?"

Red Alert nodded, and Anger snickered. **_Now, we're words._**

_Hey, be nice to Red Alert! He is doing his best to get rid of us after all._

Andger mentally stared at Nice, and raged, **_You WANT to disappear?_**

_Well, I think it would be rather interesting._

_-Shut up, both of you. I can't hear Ratchet!-_ Red Alert cried, attempting to focus on Ratchets next question.

"After that you've been visited by more doctors then I want to count, and they all agreed on one thing. They couldn't find the cause of your glitch."

Red Alert nodded, optics lickering around the empty medbay nervously. "After that, you were silent for awhile, but then, you started claiming to hear voices."

Y_ep, we learned how to talk!_

**_Nice, shut up! I want to hear more of what Ratchet has to say._** Anger grumbled softly, glaring mentally. Nice subsided with a mental sniffle. Red Alert cleared his vocalizer softly. "Not just voices Ratchet. They have emotions as well."

Ratchet stared at Red Alert and put down the pad. Nice and Angry were starting to get into one of their (in)famous arguments, during which Red Alerts CPU would feel like it would fry from all of the stress. "Oh, really..."

Red Alert shifted uncomfortably, wondering if he had done something wrong. "W-Well, I-I can feel like they have emotions a lot, because you know, they'll argue with each other."

Red Alert had the rapidly sinking feeling that he had just said something wrong. "You're saying that these voices of yours will argue with each other?"

"Do they ever stop?" Red Alert asked rhetorically.

_Hey! That's not very nice!_

**_Take that back!_** Anger snarled, and Red Alert only just barely managed to ignore them. "Red Alert, do you ever talk to these voices?"

"Not usually no."

_Liar, liar!_

**_If you don't talk to us you would've gone insane from loneliness a long time ago._** Anger agreed.

Red Alert dogedly continued ignoring them, hoping that they might fall silent. No such luck. Anger, cruelly, began to list of the various things Ratchet could do with a wrench. Many of which Red Alert had seen before.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Ratchet stared thoughtfully at the empty space left by Red Alert. He hadn't learned a lot about Red Alerts 'glitch' but he didn't like what he was hearing. _Voices, and emotions. He claims that each voice has their own separate personality, much like… as if he had brothers._

Ratchet shook his head, dismissing the thought. _He couldn't have brothers._ Frustrated, Ratchet pulled out Red Alerts medical pad once more to scroll through the various bits and pieces that had been let behind by his other doctors. A lot of them were warnings about how he responded to such and such treatment, but not a single thing told about what actually helped. It was all rather negative feedback. _And even I haven't found much that would help._ Ratchet thought gloomily.

_This is getting slightly discouraging._ Ratchet admitted to himself. _No wonder so many medics gave up on him. O course, then there's the whole Inferno factor…_

Ratchet stared at the file, contemplating Red Alerts and Inernos odd, rather interesting relationship. _It's like he wants to love Inerno, but he's afraid to. In act, has anyone seen his spark? He has a type of casing that completely hides his spark. It's something I've never seen before. Maybe I can convince him somehow to let me check his spark-_

A siren went off overhead as Red Alert said across the PA system, "We have a Decepticon attack over in Seattle. All units be prepared to move out. Warning, Megatron is heading the forces, so be prepared for a fusion cannon."

Groans rose up from the crew as they geared up and got ready to move out. Prowl and Prime took the lead as Red Alert fell into the very back with Ratchet. "Why are you coming along Red Alert?" Ratchet asked.

"Because, I have avoided the battlefields too much recently, and unfortunately, it's a rather large crowd of Decepticons that are currently attacking. I wish we could have a few more, but as is, we're leaving behind the barest skeleton crew behind."

Ratchet nodded, and then asked, "Why aren't you part of that skeleton crew?"

**_Because Prime wants to get rid of us_**- Red Alert almost repeated what Anger said, but caught himself in time. He simply shrugged instead.

Ratchet stared closely at him for a few moments, before at last growling, "Fine."

_Oohh, he's mad today. Wonder why?_

**_Why would you even want to care?_** Demanded Anger, a mental glare being shot at Nice, who simply smirked.

_Why shouldn't I? After all, you're the one who claims that he'll try to take us apart!_

-_no, that would be me_.- Red Alert pointed out mentally. – _And I have plenty of a reason why. Three doctors have tried taking us apart and selling us for spare parts.-_

Anger and Nice fell silent at Red Alerts reminder. - _Which is why I believe that Prime's just stringing us along. There's something more to this war then what we're being told—_

Nice sighed in exasperation, as Red Alert continued with his monologue, all the while his sensors alert and ready to pick up any signals. He rowned as he caught the sound of jet engines. "Prime, jets."

Prime slowed, as each o the members of the Ark attempted to hear what Red Alert had heard. "Are you certain? I don't hear anything-"

A missile came screaming towards them, making more then one mech jump in pure surprise. They scattered, and Starscream along with his two companions went streaking overhead. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker took to the air, and Red Alerts optics narrowed as he got ready to fight- "Red Aelrt, Ratchet, Cliffjumper, stay here and help the twins against the other two. Rest of the Autobots, follow me!" Prime called over the sound of the screaming jets, and the crew instantly split, each headed towards their respective areas.

Red Alert stared up at the three seekers, face completely blank. **_We're going to have some Seeker rubble!_** Anger cheered.

Red Alert pointed out - _We're more likely about to be squished. If you happen to remember, the seekers are nearly twice our strength_-

**_Don't worry about it. I'll take care of them for you._** Anger said as he surged up, attempting to take control. Red Alert wrestled his body back.

- N_ot right now! Both of you shut up and stay low!-_

Nice pouted and Anger fumed in frustration. **If you'd just let me control your body-**

-_NO!_- Red Alert screeched mentally as he brought up his gun to fire at Skywarp.

Skywarp teleported at the last second, right behind Red Alert. Red Alert wipped around, fist slamming out to try and catch the seeker.

It didn't work. There was an awful rending sound, Red Alert dropped like a stone, spark casing half crushed. Skywarp smirked in amusement, and Ratchet sprang to his patients help. A wrench went flying through the air to slam against the seekers CPU. Skywarp shrieked in pain and teleported out of harms way. Ratchet pointed at Sideswipe as he shouted, "Give me cover!"

Sideswipe moved protectvly in front of the two as Ratchet knelt by Red Alert, praying that Red Alert might not be dead. With calm, steady hands the medic turned Red Alert over, only to stop dead, his CPU unable to cope with what he was seeing.

N_o… no slagging way!_ Ratchet thought, taking a step back from Red Alert. Sideswipe threw a worried look over his shoulder. Ratchet silent was never a good sign. "Ratchet?"

"There is no slagging way this could happn! There were experiments! I did some of those experiments! They all went crazy and died!" Ratchet said pointing at Red Alert. "This isn't possible!"

Sideswipes optics shuttered at Ratchet, and then he looked down at Red Aelrt. "Ratchet?"

"Never mind Sideswipe." Ratchet snarled, his CPU slowly starting to work. "I'm going to make a few quick repairs, and then Clijumper, you're going to take him back to the medbay, where you'll tell Swoop to put him on the strongest sedatives we got-"

Cliffjumper was about to complain when Ratchet held up a wrench. "And if you don't like it, I'll disassemble you myself."

Cliffjumpers vocalizer snapped off without a sound, and he nodded stiffly.

0o0o0o0o0o

Ratchet sighed as his optics swept around the medbay one last time. Cliffjumper had come roaring back to the fight just in time to get into some rather idiotic stunts. Which landed the minibot in his medbay once again. Along with the stupid twins... Ratchet considered drolly about holding a medical course and forcing the Arks crew to fix themselves after their own idiotic stunts, but sighed as his CPU pointed out that then he'd never be able to get them in for the virus check-ups.

Swoop approached Ratchet, and Ratchet nodded as he moved to where Red Alert lay, offlined by the strongest sedatives the Ark had. Ratchet wasn't taking any chances. "Swoop, go ahead and go. I just want to check up on something."

Swoop hesitated, but he was exhausted, and Ratchet had the look of kicking him out unless he went willingly. Within a couple of steps, Ratchet was the only one left onlined in the medbay.

Slowly he approached Red Alert, and with even slower hands he took off the outer casing. As if taunting him, three sparks pulsed gently and steadily, proclaiming the impossible to have happened. "What am I going to do with you Red Alert?" Ratchet mused out loud. "I don't dare untangle the three. Not in the middle of a war zone. But with you... Even if we did separate all three it would be impossible to tell what might happen. Three sparks in one body. Two of them never controlled a body before. If they were to suddenly have bodies... We have to wait until after the war."

"What is that Ratchet?"

Ratchet turned at Optimus Primes soft question, and Optimus Prime came strolling up through the before silent medbay. "You were saying about waiting until after the war."

Ratchet nodded. "A project that I will start on immediately after the war. Go back to your office Prime. Everyones in good condition. They get more hurt doing their stunts then they did on this excursion."

Prime looked down at Red Alert, but since he was not a medic, couldn't see what Ratchet saw so clearly. "Very well Ratchet. I trust you are going to have some rest soon as well?"

Ratchet nodded, and his optics silently tracked Prime as he left the medbay. Then, with a heavy sigh he turned back to Red Alert. "Three personalities. I guess when he's glitching it's simply the other two personalities trying to take ahold of the body. No wonder you fry your wires so fast."

Another sigh dragged out from the medic. Because all three had been tangled up for so long, to separate them might mean death. _The war. I'll have to wait until after the war. Inferno however will be a problem. He'll want to know why... I'll tell him that no matter what he cannot open up Red's chassis to spark bond. I'll event an excuse later. As for now... _Lights dimmed and flickered off.

The next day, Ratchet was sent off with Ironhide on a space mission.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSs

Yes, I am hinting at the ORIGINAL TF movie, the animated one where Ratchet was killed. Why? XP I feel like being mean to Red today. However, you can ignore it, and pretend after the war Ratchet manages to untangle the sparks.


End file.
